The 'Ganger, The Impossible Girl and The Captain
by deangirl22
Summary: AU. The Flesh Doctor survived, and finds himself two companions...or rather more accurately, two companions find him.


It was dark, and the pavement his bare feet was cold. The bottoms of his slacks were tattered and the sleeves of his tweed jacket and underlying shirt had disintegrated. Thankfully the bowtie remained perfectly intact.

He ran a palm over one side of his angular face, through the silky strands of his thick hair then grazed his opposite cheek. "..Right so..that could've gone worse, all things considered.." he assured himself, after a disdainful glance at his battered clothing. "Now..now what? No TARDIS, no Ponds..." the doppelganger rambled, pacing back and forth across the barren street. He took out his screwdriver and thwacked it against his forehead. " **Think** , Doctor, _think_..." he chided himself.

"Doctor?" asked a robust male voice, halting the doppelganger in his tracks.

Turning slightly, the teal eyes of the doppelganger Doctor honed in on a man and a woman, who had appeared virtually out of thin air. The man wore a blue jacket that clung down to his ankles, the woman wore a black jacket over a burgundy knee-length dress. His dark was short and spiky, her long brown hair flowed over the collar of her jacket.

The Doctor beamed, pocketing his sonic screwdriver. "Hello Harkness. Just the person I need...You, I don't believe we've met - hello, I'm the Doctor." he added cheerily to the female standing beside Jack.

"So I gathered." she chuckled, extending a hand. "Clara Oswald."

"Mm feisty, just the type needed to make an honest man out of you, aye Harkness?" the Doctor noted with a wink and a jab of his elbow.

"Oh."/"No." Jack and Clara protested simultaneously.

"No you're right, bit of an impossible task that." the Doctor agreed after a second of reconciliation.

"You can say that again." Clara tutted, crossing her arms with a bemused glance at Jack.

"She works for UNIT Doctor, I'm just helping her retrieve an old friend.." Jack explained to the Doctor's questioning stare.

"UNIT and Torchwood?" the Doctor echoed.

"Crazier things have happened." Clara said carefully.

"Oh? Do go on.." the Doctor encouraged.

Clara opened her mouth to respond, then thought better of it, and pointed a distracted finger at him. "Why don't we have this conversation, after we've found you some clothes?" she suggested.

" _Clara_..." Jack complained in a soft hiss.

"Well now that you mention it, I'd love a cup of tea. This entire process has been a bit...devastating." the Doctor mused.

"Figured as much." Clara smirked, while Jack reluctantly activated his vortex manipulator.

* * *

The fabric practically sang beneath the Doctor's fingertips - a wide arrange of coats, a multitude of suspenders and a large slection of slacks. The Doctor's giddiness ebbed away and with a sudden onslaught of suspicion, he exited the walk-in closet, to find Clara perched on his bed. Clara seemed surprised at his sudden re-appearanced, but the Doctor didn't stop to think why.

"How did he know?" he asked abruptly.

"I'm sorry?" Clara replied dubiously.

"You said Harkness set aside this loft for me, but he hadn't met this me, the me I am now, the me since I regenerated...how'd he know what my wardrobe would consist of aye?" the Doctor rambled.

"A reliable source." Clara remarked.

"Who - River?" the Doctor pressed.

"Are you sure you want to begin this line of questioning now?"

"Is there a reason I shouldn't?"

Jack breezed in through the doorway. "Is he don-...?" he trailed off dumbstruck, his mouth agape. Clara began to snigger sweetly, attempting to hide this fact behind the side of her fist.

"What?" the Doctor demanded, his gaze darting between her and Jack and back again.

Regaining his composure, Jack flashed a smile. "Are you ready for tea Doctor?"

"No I still have to chang...ah..." the Doctor mumbled casting a downward glance. "I'm naked...right, back in a moment!" the Doctor said, bustling into the safety of the closet, and swinging the door shut behind him.

Jack's gaze was still embedded on the space where the Doctor had been standing. "I wouldn't have thought he was capable of blushing." he mused.

"You're shameless, you know that right? Trying to carouse him to drink tea in the nude!" Clara tsked, rising from her perch.

Jack shifted his attention to the pretty brunette with her hands on her hips. "Says the girl who sat and shared a conversation with him while he was sans clothes? What were you doing in here anyway, Clara?" Jack retorted, with a devious smirk.

"Do I have to have a reason?" Clara simpered, brushing past him.

* * *

A cup of tea was situated at the Doctor's elbow, one hand rest against of slab of parchment addressed to Jack Harkness. The other hand was enclosed around an illuminated box which emitted the Doctor's own voice. The true Doctor, the Doctor he had been crafted from. The 'ganger could read his handwriting, and easily understood the spoken word too, yet neither the parchment nor the box contained any instruction for the doppelganger himself. Slightly frustrated the Doctor dropped the box atop the parchment. "Is that it then? I'm to be chaperoned without rhyme or reason?" he snapped, the chair scrapping against the tiled floor as he sprang to his feet.

"The Doctor wouldn't do that." Clara said firmly, though she kept her gaze on the teapot rather than him.

"And he'd never pick me as a chaperone." Jack added dutifully.

"You're right, he wouldn't, I wouldn't. I'm more than just Flesh, you know! I've his same memories, same feelings, I am him. There must be a threat looming nearby, there has to be.." the Doctor grumbled, journeying to the window, as if he expected to see it.

"I'm sure we'll know it when we see it." Jack said. "You're just going to have to trust us Doctor."

"Trust you." the Doctor repeated with a dark laugh, resting his weight on the windowpane, as he glanced over his shoulder. "Course Harkness, course i do you, but her..." he pushed himself away from the window, and rounded onto Clara. "Why do you look so familiar?" he asked, drawing out his sentence as he intently studied her face.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Clara replied steadily, even as the doppelganger hovered over her.

"Funny..always funny...but no...I must be mistaken, it's not possible..." the Doctor mused solemnly, straightening up. "It was a different me then, must have been a different you, an ancestor maybe...not important.." the Doctor decided, clasping his hands together in thought and rubbing his palms against one another. He didn't notice the crestfallen look on Clara's face, but a grimacing Jack did. "What is important, is figuring out what sort of threat would inspire the Doctor to send babysitters to fawn over his own Flesh...ooo sounded a bit naughty didn't it?" the Doctor smiled haughtily, breaking his line of thought momentarily. "Something dire must happen, or could happen, could be happening right now for all we know...Perhaps I died prematurely...or worse..."

"What could be worse?" Clara asked softly.

"I tried to regenerate past my prime and turned into a thirteen-headed monster completely deranged, and devouring everything on planet Earth from Jellybellies to fishfingers and custard!" the Doctor ranted dramatically.

"Seems a little unlikely.." Jack laughed.

"More unlikely than a giant immortal head? Ooophf sorry, a past me took control of the lips for a minute, seems to happen sometimes when I'm riled. Forget what I said.." the Doctor rambled waving his hands about, as he paced in a half-circle. He stopped short, glancing tentatively at Clara and Jack anew. "So what am I to do now aye? Or do you truly expect me to believe the Doctor would have me travel the universe with nothing but my screwdriver, a vortex manipulator, your charm and Calra's wit?" he inquired. During the course of his speech, the Doctor had pulled out his sonic, gave it a toss then pointed it accusatorially at his would-be companions.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Clara asked evenly.

The doppelganger Doctor's face remained unchanged from its blank state, then an eager smile thawed on his lips. "Not at all. Where to first?"

* * *

A/N - Yeah, this was basically wish fulfillment. Feel free to review!


End file.
